Rare Forms

Lefse / Fire Talk; 2011

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It's almost impossible to replicate the visual aspect of 3-D in audio form, but Woodsman certainly put in a valiant effort nonetheless on last year's Mystery Tape EP. Throughout that release, the Denver psych-ish band created an impressively evocative topographic map of sound, as little details-- most notably, the arpeggiated sky-climb in EP standout "When the Morning Comes"-- would pop out before retreating into an uneasy murk. On Woodsman's latest full-length, Rare Forms, there's one specific detail that frequently stands out: The addition of vocals, provided by band member Mark Demolar. His voice takes on multiple, uh, forms throughout the record; on opening track "Insects", he sounds like a wailing evangelist, while on "Beat the Heat" his words crackle above the surface.

Most of the time, though, he sounds like Animal Collective's Avey Tare, alternating between freaked shrieks and nervy, low-delivered incantations. In fact, a decent amount of Rare Forms takes seemingly literal cues from Feels-era AC, to the point where light plagiarism might not be too ridiculous of a charge to level-- all it takes is a comparison of the way-too-similar openings of one-two punch "I Can't Move" and "Future Pulls" to Feels' percolating "Banshee Beat" to arrive at that conclusion. The distraction of blatant unoriginality aside, Rare Forms' biggest problem is its lack of compelling structure, with a whole lot of atmospheric haze. The look works well in the spooky twilight of "Dead Awake" but sounds largely like gear-spinning elsewhere. There's little of the tension that existed in the band's previous recordings, and the result often feels as ephemeral as a passing cloud.

Also, Demolar's voice simply is not a necessary addition to Woodsman's sound; its presence alone gives the effect of a curtain being pulled open on a magician mid-trick, ruining any chance of built suspense. The bright spots, however, suggest that the missteps on Rare Forms are precisely just that-- "No Dialogue" has all the crushing grace of an abbreviated Earth cut, while the propulsive guitar-warrior stuff of "Inside/Outside" proves that these guys still know what they're good at. Hopefully, next time around the results will be a little more original-- and interesting-- while expressing their clear talent for creating instrumental dread and chaos.